Improvement in shank-stiffeners for boots



Shank-Stiifener for Bnts,v &c. No. 159,485,v Patented Feb. 2,1875.

UNITED 'STATES PATENT rrrcne J EREMIAH M. WATSON, OF SHARON,MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHANK-STIFFENERS FOR BOOTS, @ac- Specication forming partof Letters Patent No. 159,485, dated February 2, 1875; applicatlon filedDecember 30, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JEREMIAH M. WATsoN, of Sharon, ofthe county ofNorfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Shauk-Stiffeners for Boots or Shoes; and do herebydeclare the same to be fully described in the following specification,and represented in the accompanying drawings, ot' Which- Figure 1 is abottom view, Fig. 2 an edge elevation, and Fig. 3 a longitudinalsection, of a shank-stiffener in accordance with my invention. Fig. 4 isa top View, and Fig. 5 an edge view, of its metallic elastic re-enforce.

As heretofore made,boot or shoe shank-stift'- eners have been composedof a single plate or strip of spring steel or metal, or of two metallicplates bowed and fastened together at their middles, as shown in theUnited States Patent No. 41,701, dated February 23, 1864, and reissuedMay 19, 1868; or they have been composed of a single strip or spring ofwood and a tempered metallic spring laid thereon and united at theirmiddles by a rivet, all as shown in the United States Patent No. 71,003,dated November 19, 1864; or they have been composed of a series ofseparate strips or layers of wood, united at and near one end of each,all as shown in the United States Patent No. 112,754, dat-ed March 14,1871, reissued March 4, 1873, and granted on an invention made by theundersigned.

In carrying out my present invention I have combined with ashank-stift'euer of the lastmentioned kind an elastic arched plate -orreenforce of metal, arranged between two of the layers of wood, allbeing as shown in the accompanyin g drawings, of which A denotes theWooden shank-stift'ener composed of a series of layers, a b c; and B themetallic arched spring or re-enforce laid between the two upper layers ab, and resting near its ends or along its intrados or lower curvedsurface, against the upper surface of the lower layer b. In order tokeep the re-enforce in place I sometimes connect the layers a b c at ornear their free ends by a tack or nail, d, driven inA to them, and to bepulled out preparatory to the introduction of the stift'ener into theshank of a shoe or boot.

With the re-entorce and my wooden shankstiifener arranged as described,I am able to make the wooden portion or portions much lighter than I canwithout the re-enforce, and I obtain all the advantage of the metallicspring and single wooden spring arranged as shown in Patent No.71,003,hereinbefore mentioned, with the additional one of completely.

protecting the shoe from wear by, or injury from, the re-enforce, which,if not covered on bothof its opposite sides by wood, is liable, whilethe shoe maybe in wear to soon cut into or through the next adjacentsurface of leather.

I do not herein claim a shank-stiffener composed of a series of layersof wood, or in other respects, as claimed in the reissue of my aforesaidPatent No. 112,754; nor do I claim a shank-stii'ener composed of one ormore layers of spring steel; nor one composed of a single layer orspring of wood and aY layer or spring of metal, fastened together attheir middles, all as shown in aforesaid Patent No. 71,003.

I claim- An improved shank-stiffener for boots or shoes, composed of twoor more layers or springs of wood, combined with an intermediateintegral layer or spring of metal, as shown, for the purpose specified.

JEREMIAH M. WATSON,

Witnesses R. H. EDDY, J R. SNOW.

